Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-08-30
! Fine WINGED RACER.
p.st,, of N Carrier pigeon That hs"
An excellent Record.

81
| p.ath of n Carrier pigeon That hs"
an Excellent Record.
.,ar ,;geon was found dead In
a farm yard st Chester, va. hos ioas
ago. The finder did not know Carrie
f,,om any other kind of pigeon, out as
he was idly examining the bird ne
noticed a little tag attached 70 'ne
feathers. On this was written THESE
f;gures: o56s, and the words, 'lf caugn'
or shot, report this number 70 o.ari
Nav YORK. 1t was a good deaf Oh
mystery still to the finder, but after
sneakinp to a few friends about H. ne
faupd one who knew that the bird was
| a carrier and had been sent out on
race. A message was accordingly sent
| to ..Starr. New York" as requested On
the tao .Starr, New York. " Is htsie
woman who devotes herself to the inter-
ests of pigeon flying, and keeps the run
of about all the birds in this country.
To find her one has to climb four DARK
fights to the top of rickety old puiia.
inc Mt the corner of Cortlandt ane
| washington streets As she IS an en-
thusiast upon the subject. visitors VINO
want to learn any thing about pigeons
find ready welcome and no little IN
/ formation.
All pigeon flyers. and their number
is increasing every year, send her ae,
counts of their birds, and in the event
Of a race the birds themselves are some
times sent also to be registered. But
as a rule she is notified as soon as
bird is Matched. and she makes such
| entries in her pondcrous record BOOKS
as fix that birds identity until he dies
of old age or by shot from careless
hunter. When she received word that
056s had been picked up dead, she
referred to her books and found that
one Of the most remarkable birds IN
the land had been lost. To be sure,
all the pigeon flyers had given this bird
mn months ago. for she had not been
heard of since last Octobsr, but no one
knew what became of HIN. The bird
was owned by VIM. Bennett. of Newark,
N. j., one of the centers q pigeon flying
interest. The bird had not been
named. 1t was blue male and was
Matched in the spring of 1886. 1t had
been in three races, in one OF which 1t
! was among the six that made the best
record to Newark. and the feat was
second only to the best young fly bird
in America. The best record was made
by Philadelphia pigeons in 1888. In
the case of 0563 the start was made at
.. Liberty, Va. from which place to
Newark it is 36S miles, air line. The
birds were liberated at twenty-five
minutes past six on the morning OF
! October 1, 1886. and the first bird to
; report at its loft in Newark arrived at
fourteen minutes past four p. m. of the
same day. A few minutes later 0563
came in, and his average speed for the
journey was 1,099 yards minute.
About week later this bird, with three
, others, was taken to Morgantown
N. c., 527 miles from home. None o.
: them was heard from until Mrs. Starr
4 learned the death of 0563.
!. Mrs Starr thinks that pigeon flying
has come to be q standard gentlemen
sport in America At present tn,
! amusement is free from all objectiona
:. BILE features, and as each year passei
= improvements ar made in the method
II of keeping the records of the birds
New books have reen opened this spring
= which in few years will be of grea
value to lovers ct the sport, for the,
;, will contain the minutest details of al
n birds that live long enough to make ;
record in a race. But the most i'm
portant change this season is in til,
:, device for marking the birds. 1t wa
!. formerly done by marking the feather
and attaching tag, but henceforth
: light seamless band of silver-plate,
A nickel will be put around the birds leg
. every band sent out from Mrs. Starr
i headquarters having different humble
i inscribed on it. The band is slippe,
; over a pigeons foot as soon as it i
p Matched, and so rapidly do the bird
N grow that in eight days the band coul,
n neither be removed nor similar on
Is put on. Yet it is never too small fo
= the leg. and in no way does it act t
l. the discomfort of tho flyer. Speakin.
of the general subject of pigeon flying
Mrs. Starr said: -
81 think you would be surprised if yo
knew how many people keep birds 70
the actual work of carrying messages
: A great many men in all of the laro
. cities take birds with them to thei
g offices, and at some period of the day
when they have occasion to send wor
home, they attach message to til
pigeon and release it. But | suppos
that the principal incentive to the cult
walton of message birds is for racine
Although young birds, those hatche,
v within the year, often make goo
records, | am inclined to think tina
n a pigeon does not become fully matur
until 1t is ten years old. They the
seem to have the maximum of sens
and speed. In this country we hay
10 a great deal of trouble with hunters
Ii they would only let the birds alou,
we should lose very few from any othe
Y causes. Pigeons are on record tn,
have won races at the age of twent,
In Belgium great deal of attention
/. paid TO flying. and the birds are hicbl
), cultivated and live to a considerabl
age. N T. Sun.